Cynthia J. Burrows To Be New Editor Of Accounts of Chemical Research

The next editor-in-chief of the American Chemical Society journal Accounts of Chemical Research will be Cynthia J. Burrows, a chemistry professor and chair of the chemistry department at the University of Utah. ACS, which also publishes C&EN, made the announcement last week with an effective date of January 2014.

Burrows will succeed Joan S. Valentine, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The journal publishes concise overviews of basic research and applications in chemistry and biochemistry as well as special issues on single topics.

The journal “has a rich history of providing scholarly essays on frontier areas of research,” Burrows notes. Accounts is a “unique venue for communicating the excitement of the chemical sciences, both in core areas of chemistry and at the interfaces with biology, medicine, materials, and energy research.”

Burrows’s keen insight across many disciplines will serve her well, says Susan King, senior vice president of the ACS Journals Publishing Group. Valentine dedicated 19 years to serving as editor-in-chief, “positioning the journal as a leading resource for the global multidisciplinary chemistry community,” King adds.

Burrows earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1975 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cornell University in 1982. Her research covers organic and biological chemistry, with a focus on chemical modifications of DNA and RNA bases.